Overwatch 2 was announced back at BlizzCon 2019 alongside the promise that it was going to include this big PvE Hero component. A PvE Hero mode would further the Overwatch story and lore along with including various progression systems. It was the single biggest selling point on why a sequel needed to happen at all.
The idea was going to be that the new PvE content would be the focal point of the sequel. It would be a narrative-driven co-op experience, sort of like a more fully realized version of those limited-time PvE events in the first game. The roster of Heroes would be reworked for PvE and even given progression systems that would lead to new talent unlocks.
Blizzard often talked up how the PvE content was coming along over the course of these past several years. When Overwatch 2 was released in October 2022, Blizzard said that it was launching only with the multiplayer component and that the PvE Hero content would be coming sometime in 2023.
Now, Blizzard has come out to say that the PvE Hero mode is dead. It's been scrapped. It will never be released at all.
Overwatch 2 game director Aaron Keller and executive producer Jared Neuss spoke with GameSpot say that the team made the decision to scrap the PvE Hero mode in Overwatch 2.
GameSpot: The big talking point is the direction that you're now taking with the PvE; that you basically aren't doing it. Is that the correct way to characterize it? It's not happening anymore and you've pivoted away from it?
Aaron Keller: I think I would characterize it slightly differently, which is we are doing part of what the team had set out to do, but not the entirety of what was discussed back at BlizzCon 2019. So the real focus is on the story missions and that experience as opposed to the more open-ended hero mode and that stuff.
Right. So it's fair to say that the experience that you showed during that first Overwatch 2 reveal is not going to be the one that will be released at any point?
Aaron Keller: Yeah, exactly. So we are definitely not doing the Hero Mode and the talents and that power progression system.​
Aaron Keller: I think I would characterize it slightly differently, which is we are doing part of what the team had set out to do, but not the entirety of what was discussed back at BlizzCon 2019. So the real focus is on the story missions and that experience as opposed to the more open-ended hero mode and that stuff.
Right. So it's fair to say that the experience that you showed during that first Overwatch 2 reveal is not going to be the one that will be released at any point?
Aaron Keller: Yeah, exactly. So we are definitely not doing the Hero Mode and the talents and that power progression system.​
Obviously you can see that not everything was scrapped as far as the story content is concerned. The upcoming seasons will include at least a tiny bit of story content by way of a still relatively vague "Story Missions" addition in Season 6. A "Player Progression System" and "Hero Mastery" are also slotted in to arrive in Season 6, though it's unclear as to how extensive this content will be.
There are other non PvE updates coming in the next few seasons. You can see there will be a couple of limited time events, the Summer Games makes its return, there will be a new Hero released in Season 7, reworks for Heroes such as Roadhog and Sombra, and the seasons even include new maps such as Flashpoint.
While this story-focused content coming throughout Season 6 is begrudgingly welcome by fans, this news that Overwatch 2's main draw being cancelled has been met with a healthy dose of disappointment and even some anger.
